But as Obama claimed Ohio and won the election, pundits showered the professional poker player-turned-journalist with praise.

"You know who won the election tonight? Nate Silver," Rachel Maddow said on MSNBC.

Fox News' Bret Baier also acknowledged Silver's accuracy on air.

Stopping short of a full victory lap, Silver plugged his book in a tweet after the Times called the election for Obama.

"The Signal and the Noise," his first book released in September, chronicles Silver's methods for distilling mounds of data into a reliable forecast.

His plug — or, at least, his popularity — appears to have paid off. Sales of the book on Amazon shot up 850 percent in the last 24 hours.

Updated at 4:37 p.m. ET with Amazon book sales statistics

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